1290: The Never-Ending Battle

Oh, God. Reviews for Dragon’s Crown came out today, and I had a feeling there was going to be at least one shitstorm over it.

Dragon’s Crown, lest you’re unfamiliar, is a new game for PS3 and Vita loosely inspired by the brawler classics of yesteryear such as Golden Axe, fused with some modern ideas from roguelikes and action RPGs. It gained notoriety prior to release for featuring some heavily exaggerated, almost abstract art, in which the “Amazon” character is a gigantic, musclebound behemoth of a woman; the “Sorceress” character has boobs that will give her significant back problems later in life; and the “Fighter” character has armour that would put the COGs from Gears of War to shame. The female elf ranger, meanwhile, looks almost normal, though she has some grade-A zettai ryouiki going on with her boots.

Here’s the Sorceress and the Amazon.

Now, you may have one of several reactions to the art used in this game. You may find it offensive in its overly sexualised depictions of women. You may find it ludicrous and amusing. You may find it beautiful. You may find it erotic or arousing. You may find it kind of cool in a stylised sort of way. Or you just might hate it not for what it represents, but simply because the style doesn’t appeal to you.

Here’s the thing: all of those opinions are “right”. Or, more accurately, none of them are “wrong”. Your opinion is your own, and you should take ownership of it, not be pressured into thinking what other people seem to think you should think.

Unfortunately, there are people on both “sides” of the argument that has sprung up around this game — leaving aside the people in the middle who either think it’s “kind of neat” or “meh” — who are being a little unreasonable about all this. Not everyone, by any means — both Polygon and GamesBeat’s reviews, for example, while differing wildly in their final evaluation of the game, read as fair comments that accurately reflect the authors’ perspectives as people who strongly disliked the art — but there’s a significant proportion of people both on the “pro” and “anti” sides of the debate who are, frankly, being a bit dickish.

The most obviously obnoxious side is, of course, the group of people who have just become collectively known as “the misogynists”. The young men who enjoy their T&A and get defensive any time they feel someone is attacking them and their tastes. The same people who, in extreme cases, send death threats to people like Anita Sarkeesian simply for exploring depictions of women in video games.

However, I’ve seen equally obnoxious comments today on the side of people who dislike the art style and think it’s sexist, misogynist or otherwise discriminatory. I’ve seen Dragon’s Crown referred to as a “wank game” (by a woman) and numerous snide comments from people (men and women) on Twitter calling it “juvenile” or being otherwise disrespectful towards those who either don’t have a strong opinion on the art style, or those who actively like it. I’ve also seen people implying that the people who do like Dragon’s Crown will never get laid, and are just pathetic losers for whom, I quote, “the closest u will ever get 2 a woman is ur miku miku dominoes figurine” [sic — in reference to Hatsune Miku, the popular animated Japanese mascot who was recently used in a Dominos Pizza campaign in Japan.] Real classy, there.

When you see this going on, it’s sort of understandable why the “misogynist” side gets overly defensive and wants to lash out at the people criticising them. It’s not acceptable. The ones attacking the art style of Dragon’s Crown are the same ones criticising others for disrespectful comments and behaviour — particularly towards women — and yet they’re engaging in it themselves simply because someone disagrees with them. Not good at all.

Where do I stand on Dragon’s Crown? I think it’s cool. It’s distinctive, heavily stylised and immediately recognisable — not to mention memorable. I don’t find it erotic or arousing, personally — it’s just too exaggerated for my particular tastes — but acknowledge that there may be some people who do. For context, I enjoy the art style of modern anime — particularly the more “moe” end of the spectrum — and freely admit that I believe drawings and animations can be as sexually arousing — sometimes more so — than photographs and videos. I also like looking at — and, even better, playing as — attractive female characters in video games, because they’re everything I’m not, and I often identify or empathise with them a lot better than beefcake males.

Most importantly, I acknowledge that not everyone agrees with the way I feel and I wouldn’t expect to make anyone feel the same way if they’re just not into it. Similarly, I acknowledge that some people find Dragon’s Crown’s art distasteful, but I do not expect those people to be patronising, condescending and even, at times, outright aggressive towards those who do like the way it looks.

Let’s maybe try to respect each other a little more, even when we disagree — even on controversial topics.

If only.